Gun maker Beretta celebrates opening of Tennessee plant

A worker assembles a handgun at the new Beretta plant in Gallatin, Tenn., on Friday, April 15, 2016. The Italian gun maker has cited Tennessee’s support for gun rights in moving its production from its plant in Maryland. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
(The Associated Press)

A worker assembles a handgun at the new Beretta plant in Gallatin, Tenn., on Friday, April 15, 2016. The Italian gun maker has cited Tennessee’s support for gun rights in moving its production from its plant in Maryland. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig)
(The Associated Press)

GALLATIN, Tenn. – Italian gun maker Beretta is celebrating the opening of its new manufacturing and research facility in suburban Nashville.

Gov. Bill Haslam and U.S. Sen. Bob Corker were among the dignitaries in attendance for the ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday in Gallatin, about 30 miles northeast of the state capital.

Tennessee prevailed in luring Beretta from Maryland after the company raised objections to a wide-ranging gun control measure enacted there in the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Connecticut that left 26 dead.

Beretta officials cited strong Second Amendment support in Tennessee in the decision to invest in the state. Beretta has operated in Italy since 1526. The family-owned company makes a variety of firearms, ranging from hunting shotguns to the U.S. Armed Forces M-9 pistol.